Depends. Did you actually fight in a war?_________________we are microsoft, lower your firewalls and surrender your pc's. we will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. your culture will adapt and service us. resistance is futile.

Maybe marines became cannon fodder when mediaeval missionaries pushed them into the front-line.
Or when some assholes decided that invading countries and slaughtering innocent people for oil is a good thing. Ask your Führer in Washington about that.

The nature of the mission of shock troops requires that be willing and able to assault prepared defenses. That means charging into enemy fire. When you do that, some people are going to die. A well-trained, well-led unit of sufficient size will do it right and overwhelm the defenders without losing an inordinate percentage of the force.

No leader with an alternative sends his men to assault a prepared defense, but sometimes it's necessary. Where it's necessary, it's best to use all the fires you can get (e.g. preparatory airstrikes and artillery, close air support, attack helicopters, electronic warfare, etc.), and carefully selected, specially trained units who can pull it off with as few losses as possible.

In such a situation, average soldiers will end up attacking piecemeal, as many of them wait for the other guy to go first, lose their ability to function, fire blindly, and just become targets running to keep up with their buddies as best they can. Such a unit will fail to achieve overwhelming mass and concentration of combat power, and they'll get shredded.

What's required is that every man have the strength of character, the realistic training or combat experience, and the necessary confidence in the other members of their unit, that they will indeed all attack without hesitation, in a closely-coordinated fashion, achieving the necessary maneuver and concentrations of combined arms combat power to overwhelm the defender. This isn't like defending some hilltop; it takes a great deal of expertise, and it takes a lot of very brave men.

That doesn't make them "cannon fodder" more than any other warrior who is a target. It just makes them a special kind of warrior who is more likely to keep his shit together under extreme duress, work as a team through chaos and confusion, and come out on top in a heavy fight. Also, the only officers who can successfully lead such men do so by sharing every hardship and leading by example and from the front. That's why the motto of the U.S. Infantry is "Follow Me". I'm sure the Marines have a similar philosophy.

Suddenly, not all minions of the state are bad (as he has consistently said), and when you think about it, being a net tax recipient is a means to combat the injustice of tax theft. Hey, at least he's not a baby killer or baton-wielding, jack-booted thug. :roll:

++

That's what it sounds like._________________It is what it is out there. So whatever it is, it is.

Maybe marines became cannon fodder when mediaeval missionaries pushed them into the front-line.

What the... Oh my, uh...

THAT'S FUCKING HILAROUS!!!

Hilarious from our perspective -- not from that of a Spaniard. Their Infantería de Armada dates back to the sixteenth century and Felipe el Prudente (one generation removed from the days of Columbus). They were indeed sending amphibious assault forces for Jesus. _________________

patrix_neo wrote:

The human thought: I cannot win.
The ratbrain in me : I can only go forward and that's it.

The Evolution of dmichell, Chapter III: dmitchell the absolute anarchist becomes a bureaucratic stooge of the state. Suddenly, not all minions of the state are bad (as he has consistently said), and when you think about it, being a net tax recipient is a means to combat the injustice of tax theft. Hey, at least he's not a baby killer or baton-wielding, jack-booted thug. :roll:

I'm not going to put up much of a fight here because even I find a little humor in the situation, but I will make a couple of points. And of course I'm just speaking for myself here, expressing my own opinions.

Quote:

Suddenly, not all minions of the state are bad (as he has consistently said)...

While I do object to government and therefore to all government employment, on more than one occasion I've explained that my beef lies primarily with the enforcers, the hired killers, and the busy bodies. In other words with anyone directly involved in deploying the coercive power of the state. You can't find many instances of me trash talking e.g. the faculty and staff at public universities. Those people just aren't my targets. I do object to public funding of science, and if anyone had asked me, I would not have endorsed it.

Quote:

...and when you think about it, being a net tax recipient is a means to combat the injustice of tax theft.

I made that argument more than a year ago. Meaning that it may be wrong, but it is not a rationalization I made up just now. It isn't "Suddenly," as you put it.

Quote:

Hey, at least he's not a baby killer or baton-wielding, jack-booted thug.